Texas A&M University System Breaks Ground on RELLIS Academic Complex

Mar 1, 2018

BRYAN, Texas —Texas A&M University System officials broke ground Thursday on the first Texas A&M System academic building on the newly established 2,000-acre RELLIS Campus in Bryan, Texas.

“The RELLIS Campus presented us with an opportunity to lead the way in redefining education,” said Texas A&M University System Chancellor John Sharp. “This world-class facility will ensure the next generation of Texas will benefit from everything the Texas A&M System can offer.”

The 68,000 square-foot building is part of the planned RELLIS Academic Complex and is expected to be completed in June 2019. The $42 million three-story building will feature 10 classrooms, group learning and collaboration spaces, modern allied health teaching laboratories, upper division science laboratories and more than 40 faculty offices. Once completed, the 112,460 square-foot RELLIS Academic Complex will accommodate 2,500 upper-division students.

“This is an exciting day for RELLIS. After 18 months of planning, the academic offerings at RELLIS are beginning, and in just 15 months we will have students studying in this state-of-the-art building,” said Jim Nelson, Assistant Vice Chancellor and Director of Special Academic Initiatives.

Designated as a University System Center, the campus allows multiple institutions within the A&M System and Blinn College to offer selective degree and certificate programs in one location.

Blinn College is set to open a new 83,000-square-foot facility on the new RELLIS Campus by the Fall 2018 academic semester. All students at RELLIS will utilize the 18 classrooms and eight laboratories for the first academic year. Upon completion of the Texas A&M System building, upper-division students will transition across the street to complete bachelor’s degrees.

“The relationship between Blinn College and The Texas A&M University System began over 30 years ago and has set the standard for what a relationship between a community college and university system should be,” said Charles Schwartz, Chairman of the Texas A&M University Board of Regents. “The RELLIS Academic Alliance will only serve to further that relationship.”

Founded in 2016, the RELLIS Campus is an initiative of The Texas A&M University System. Located in Bryan, TX, the RELLIS Campus serves as an ecosystem that fosters cutting-edge research, technology development, higher education and workforce training. The Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), along with academic, corporate and private partners, conduct valuable research for world-changing technologies, processes and products with state-of- the-art research laboratories, testing and proving grounds. At the RELLIS campus, post-secondary degree education and training are offered with programs through Blinn College, multiple universities within the Texas A&M System and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX). Academic courses are expected to begin fall 2018, pending approvals, including the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.